Horse Play
by Qym
Summary: Lilly ran because there was nothing left. She ran because she knew she'd always lose. She ran to forget. Liley Two Shot
1. Chapter 1

_**Note: **__I'm a terrible person and I accept that painful truth. I recently injured my knee, which caused me to become immobile. And thus I returned to and I grew sick of having nothing new to share. And thus this two shot was born. Part two will be posted by the beginning of next week. I also apologize for any errors this contains. I hate rereading things._

_**Warning: **__ This will contain the best kind of relationship possible: a consensual homosexual one. Please also be aware of the use of "bad" language and cigarette use._

0______0

She pressed the butt of her cigarette into the fence post, but kept her eyes trained on the sunset in the distance. And, as she did every night, she wondered why she was there. Not in the cosmic sense, because she was pretty sure there was no Heaven, no Hell, no after life to speak of. Ergo, there was no supernatural meaning and she could apply whatever meaning she saw fit. Rather she was curious why she was at Miley's childhood home tending to a broken fence. She flicked the stub of her cigarette into the tall grass and hitched her belt.

Staring at the sun's last beams caressing the waves of grass was relaxing, but in truth she missed the cool oceanic breeze. There was nothing quite like watching the sun come up across the Pacific. She shook her head and walked along the fence as the stars slowly became visible. The moon was a mere sliver in the sky, a waxing quarter, and she wondered if Miley could see it too. If Miley was wondering if she saw it.

The large family house loomed over. She approached with the same lackluster smile she did every evening. The screen door creaked open and the new owner of the property welcomed her in.

"Hope it wasn't terrible to fix, Vi." He shut the door behind them and waited as she pulled her boots off. "Dinner's almost done. I'm starvin', but April said we needed you."

The woman he referred to as Vi shrugged. "You guys should know by now that you don't ever need to wait for me. Just eat and I can just scavenge through the scraps."

He rubbed her shoulders. "You're like a daughter to us."

She cast her eyes to the ground, but he couldn't see. He had already moved back to the kitchen to be with his wife. April and Mark Hutcherson had been too kind to her when she had stumbled onto their property almost two years before, drunk and dirty and half-crazy with tears streaming down her face. They had accepted no explanation that night, but forced her inside, offered her a hot meal, and let her clean up. Eventually, she told them bits and pieces about her life. But she hadn't been entirely truthful.

Lilly Truscott never wondered how her life had reached the point that it had. She could remember every excruciating detail leading up to her collapse on a stranger's property. Her life had fallen apart without her noticing. She had fallen in love with her best friend and hadn't even noticed. Her best friend hadn't noticed, either, and consequently Miley had accepted Jake's engagement ring. Broken, Lilly had fled with nothing but her wallet and the clothes on her back. She had hitchhiked across the country, from Malibu all the way to Tennessee, with plans of never stopping until her feet gave out and her heart stopped either hurting or beating. Whichever came first.

Unwilling to give away her identity, her link to her past, she had given them a false name. Violet Cyrus couldn't be connected to the teen pop star. As far as the kind couple knew, she was a run away from an upsetting situation at home with no destination and no money. She hadn't even planned on staying with them, but they had offered her a job, a place to rest her head that wasn't on the side of the road or in a bus station. Instead of a begging for spare change to continue on her road to destruction, she fixed fences and tended the garden.

"Violet, get your bony butt in here!" April hollered when she saw Lilly hanging around the doorway. "Load your plate up, hon."

Lilly grabbed a plate before she got scolded further. April was a portly woman who ate as well as she cooked, but could incite fear when pushed too far. It had only happened once to Lilly, the third week of her stay. She had refused April's offer of new clothes and subsequently had her head gnawed off by an irate five foot tall brunette.

The smell of fresh mashed potatoes and pork cutlets drew her in. Despite her initial unwillingness to take from her hosts, food was something she could never refuse. She grabbed a glass of milk and went to the table. Before they ate, April and Mark grabbed her hands and bowed their head in prayer.

"Lord, please bless this meal. Thank you for providing for us…"

Mark's voice droned on and Lilly watched his face. They never bothered her about not joining in on the ritual, as long as she didn't eat before they had called Amen. She examined the creases in his face, where stress once lived but prayer eased. His hands were gnarled but soft and she traced her thumb across the back of one. When his head came up afterwards, he winked at her and she grinned back.

"I was thinking about trying to ride Duster."

Mark's eyebrows shot up. "Duster can't be ridden, you know that. Wild as Hell, that one."

April shook her head. "Violet, dear, you'd break your little head open."

"I think I can do it." Lilly glanced out the window at the paddock. Out there, somewhere, a wild gelding slept. He reminded Lilly of how she used to treat life. "He just needs a kind touch."

"Kind of like you?" Mark teased. He slurped from his milk. "Alright. You wanna try? Tomorrow morning, he's all yours. If you can ride him, you can keep him."

Lilly sat up straighter in her seat. "Like keep him – keep him?"

"If he was a car, I'd hand over his pink slip."

Lilly jumped out of her chair and hugged both of her hosts. She beamed as she fell back down and gobbled the rest of her meal down. After cleaning her dishes faster than she ever had, she ran to her room. She practically flew into her pajamas, though she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep from excitement. But her day of hard work caught up with her and she was out within ten minutes.

At four a.m., half an hour before her alarm was set to sound, she woke with her heart racing. Rather than force more anxious sleep, she stumbled to the shower and got herself ready for the day. As the sun trickled through the windows, she laced up her boots and tugged her hat down over her face. The screen door squealed when she brushed through it. She made a pit-stop in the stable for a bridle and a lead rope and went out to the fields. Duster eyed her from his spot under the largest tree. She eased toward him with the supplies hanging off her arms to keep her hands free.

"Hey buddy-buddy…" She held her palms out in front of her. "Kiss-kiss, Duster-man."

He stepped away from her, but didn't run. His tail lashed at flies and she paused. His ears flicked in her direction. She maintained eye contact with him.

"Duster, I'm not going to hurt you. You know that." Her words fell slowly from her lips. She coaxed him softly. "Please please please."

The next step she took was her last – he bolted in the other direction, kicking up his hooves. She could tell from his gait that he understood only that she wanted to play with him and there was no way she was going to get close like that. She sat down at the base of the tree and watched him from the corner of her eye. When his guard went down, she started inching towards him. By the time she was near enough and standing, he was looking in the other direction, though she could see all of his muscles tensing beneath his coat.

"Easy there." She got one hand on his shoulder before he ran off once more, this time sending her toppling to the ground. "Damnit!"

This routine persisted until the sun was directly overhead. Lilly spat into the dust and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. She wasn't going to let one little gelding get the best of her. She stalked back to the tree and leaned against the trunk. The glare she sent Duster could have peeled wallpaper. Perhaps, she thought, this wasn't the right way to catch him. She snuffled and turned her nose to the clouds.

Another hour drifted by, but she refused to look at the stubborn horse. She only took her eyes from the sky when his nose bumped her shoulder. She moved slowly, but slid the bridle on and hooked up the lead rope. He huffed at her but she just grinned. It would be stupid to try and ride him bareback, but saddling him was not yet an option. She decided, instead, to just walk him around and get him used to her presence. He plodded beside her, complacent, but she knew it wouldn't last. The second a chipmunk scuttled past, he reared up on his hind legs and pulled from her grip.

"Now listen here, Duster, you can't get away from me that easily." She pulled down on the lead rope until he was on all four legs once more – no simple task for a girl of one hundred and twenty pounds. "I hold the rope here, buddy-boy."

She led him to the fence bordering the paddock and climbed the wooden rungs. She tied the rope to the post and swung a leg over his broad back. He shifted uneasily beneath her weight. He waited until she had settled herself in before bucking. She grabbed his mane with both fists, but ended up with a crash in the dirt. She didn't know which hurt more – her butt or her pride.

"That wasn't very nice." She scolded him. If horses could laugh, she cursed under breath at the glimmer in his eyes. "We're gonna try this again. Mark told me that if I couldn't ride you, you're getting sold to the glue factory. You want that?"

Whether he understood her threat or not he stood calmly as she remounted. She rubbed her hand on his shoulders. By the time the sun was setting she walked him to the stables for a good grooming. She went by foot, nowhere near comfortable enough to ride him. There was a strange truck near the main house, and she stared momentarily at it. Disregarding it, she entered the stables, sure she'd get answers later. Duster stood calmly as she brushed him down and wiped the sweat from his withers.

"As you can see, we didn't change much." Mark's voice grew louder as he neared. Lilly could detect two sets of feet. "The stable is just how we bought it, just with some new animals."

"You can run this place by yourself?"

Lilly couldn't believe her ears. That voice.

"No, no. We've got a young woman helpin' out. Pretty much our daughter actually." The feet stopped. "She's over there."

Fighting panic, Lilly hid her face in Duster's mane.

"Next to the big dapple gray?"

"Those are her boots." Mark came to her side and tapped her shoulder. "Vi? Violet?"

Lilly shrugged her shoulder. "Huh?"

"Did you ride him?"

Lilly shrugged again. "Little."

"You'll have him in no time. Duster's a big softy, right?" Mark chuckled and his guest approached.

She spoke. "What did you call her?"

"Violet." Mark responded and pulled Lilly away from Duster's side. "Violet Cyrus."

"Uh-huh." Miley glanced Lilly over. Lilly wished she wasn't as dirty as she was. Her boots were scuffed and the jeans she wore were covered in mud and holes. Her blouse had faint sweat stains along the collar, back, and arm pits from too many days of use, and even her undershirt was no longer the white it used to be. Her blonde hair was drawn back into a pony tail, with odd ends sticking out. She knew she probably reeked of horse. "Well Violet, I'm Miley Stewart. Nice to meet you."

Lilly stared at the hand Miley extended. It was impossible that Miley didn't recognize her. Her eyes roved each of Miley's fingers and settled on the engagement ring. "Likewise."

"Y'know, you look more like a Lilly to me." Miley tilted her head. "But I suppose you're the prettiest flower regardless of name."

Fighting a blush, Lilly took her hand back. "Why are you here?"

Mark cut in. "She used to live here. She was in town and wanted to see the old place."

"After Maw-maw had to sell it, I was afraid it would get destroyed for one of those malls they tried to put in before." Miley explained. "I'm glad it's still a farm."

Mark rubbed the back of his neck. "Without Violet here, we wouldn't have much. She does almost everything for us. Well everything I can't."

Lilly smiled at him. "I'm happy to help."

"Mr. Hutcherson, thank you for your tour so far, but would you mind if Violet took me around from here?"

Mark nodded and left the two. Miley's stance at once became aggressive.

"Lillian Marie Truscott."

Lilly hung her head. "Yes?"

"What the fuck were you thinking?"

That caused Lilly's head to snap up. She had never even heard Miley curse, let alone drop the F-bomb. "I don't know what you mean."

"Yes you do!" Miley grabbed Lilly's arm and dragged her towards the fields. "We're going to go talk, missy."

Lilly allowed herself to be drug out to the tall grass. She was more comfortable there anyways. Duster stamped his hoof, impatiently still standing at the grooming station. Lilly sent him mental apologies. They collapsed into the grass but Miley didn't relinquish her grasp.

"Miley, you're hurting me."

"And you think the past few years have been a pony ride for me?"

"No…" Lilly tugged her arm, but it was useless. "I'm sorry, really."

"Not one phone call. Not one letter. Not one freaking word from my best friend. Your mom flipped out. I've never seen one woman cry so hard." Miley shook the limb in her hands. "You must have called her, since she stopped."

Lilly nodded. "Pretty soon after I met Mark and April. I'd probably be dead without them."

"Why not me?"

"I don't… I couldn't."

"You couldn't." Miley's voice flat lined. "Couldn't spend two seconds to call me and let me know you were alive."

"Nope." Lilly twisted away so Miley couldn't see her face. She was being childish and she knew it. "Leave me alone. Go back to your life."

"My life is nothing without you."

Lilly marinated in that statement for a few quiet moments.

"You have a great life. Great career, good money." She paused. "Loving fiancé."

It was Miley's turn to twist away. "I don't get you Lilly Truscott. Not one bit. I used to think I did."

"You should go."

"Not until you tell me why. Why you wanted to hurt me so bad."

Lilly used her free hand to grab Miley's chin. She leaned in and kissed Miley's nose.

"Because I love you in a way that you'll never love me."

Miley stared at her. "You can't."

"But I do." Lilly jerked her arm free at last and got to her feet. "You got your answer."

"But now I have more questions." Miley stood up as well. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Miss I'm Going To Marry a Movie Star." Lilly riposted. "I have nothing on him. He's rich, famous, good looking. I was just some nobody. And now I'm even less."

To Lilly's surprise, Miley wrapped her arms around Lilly. Lilly reveled in the feeling of Miley's body against her own. The tickle of Miley's lips against her neck was unexpected. She mewled at the contact. She turned to face her old friend. Miley's lips captured hers and she felt whole for the first time in years.

When they parted, Lilly removed herself to gaze at Miley. The moon had come out and the meager light hit Miley's face in all the right places. She seemed to glow and Lilly wanted to bask in her forever. Her eyes traveled lower, following Miley's neck to her collarbone and on. The ring on Miley's finger sparkled. Lilly's heart clenched. She offered Miley a sad smile and mimicked her horse; she ran as hard as her legs would allow. When she returned to the house, the truck outside was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Note: **__Thanks for sticking with me through part two. Thanks, also, to those who reviewed. I appreciate every review I receive. Perhaps I will be updating my other stories shortly._

_**Warning: **__ This will contain the best kind of relationship possible: a consensual homosexual one. Please also be aware of the use of "bad" language and sexual content._

0______0

Lilly put Duster in a stall and kissed his nose. Her heart thrummed against her ribcage. Duster whinnied at her as she shut the gate behind her. She walked towards the house with legs that felt like dead weight. The time she had spent in the field had done nothing but cause her to berate herself.

"Why'd you fucking run, Truscott?" She whispered under her breath. "You could have had her. Even just once. That would have been fine, right?"

The creak of the screen door seemed to be in tune with her heart. She concentrated on its sound. Mark and April were at the dinner table with empty plates in front of them. Their eyes were trained on her but she ignored them and headed for her bedroom.

"Violet. Come here." April's voice was strict, as it usually was, but Lilly could hear a hint of tenderness. "Now."

"Please." Mark put in.

Mentally cursing herself, she turned and dragged her feet to the table. They watched her pull her seat out and sit. A few moments of silence persisted between them.

"Who was that?"

Lilly didn't want to get into this, but she knew she had no choice. "What I was running from."

They patiently listened to her story. She explained that Miley had been her best friend for many, many years. How she had realized that she loved Miley a little too much, but only after Miley was out of her reach permanently. It was like she had always been told, she thought darkly, that you don't know how deeply you care until the object of your affection is gone. They nodded along with her response to the engagement; it came down to fight or flight and she chose flight. She couldn't ruin Miley's happiness for her own. When her story was done, April got up and rubbed her shoulders.

"Oh honey."

Lilly ducked her head, "And my name isn't Violet Cyrus. It's Lilly Truscott. I'm sorry I lied to you."

Mark leaned back in his chair. "So why did she leave here in such a huff?"

"I ran from her…"

"Again?" April whacked her shoulder. "Dear, you can't keep running from your problems."

"But she's with him." Lilly couldn't bring herself to say his name.

"Life changes, little lady." Mark got to his feet. "April was with another man when I met her."

April chuckled. "That's true. When we first became friends, I was with this man, Bill. Thought he was the love of my life. He's the one that convinced me to move out to Tennessee. We were living together in Kansas when he was offered a job out here. But when we got here, he said I either had to marry him or move out. I chose to marry him, rather than get stranded in a state where I knew no one."

"She got a job at the company where I worked." Mark gazed at his wife. "I was with a girl at the time, too. But we hit it off pretty much immediately. Best of friends within a month. But then I found out my girl was cheating on me with two other guys. And who did I go to for comfort?"

"April?" Lilly guessed. She leaned into April's hands.

"That's right." April squeezed her arms gently. "I was there for him, just like he was there for me when things with Bill went south. Billy didn't like that I was finding my own independence. He got violent when I told him I wanted a divorce."

Mark's face darkened. "Sometimes we make bad choices in who we think we love, but we just have to have faith that we'll end up with the one that's right for us."

Lilly gazed down at the table top. "I know she's the one for me, I do. I just don't know if I'm the one for her."

"You'll never know if you don't try." April went back to resume sitting next to her husband. "She left us with an address and phone number. For where she's staying."

Mark pushed a piece of paper across the table. "She's not married yet. She'll be at this hotel until tomorrow night."

Lilly took the papers and folded them up. They found their way into her pocket. "But I can't break up a relationship. I'm not a home wrecker."

"There comes a time when you have to treasure your own happiness as much as everyone else's." April pulled the hair away from her forehead so Lilly could see a scar along her hairline. "Even if it's painful or hard, there's something better on the other side."

"Thank you." Lilly stood up, holding her arms to her chest. "I'm going to think about it."

Mark gestured to the table. "No dinner?"

"Not tonight. Thank you both so much."

Lilly strayed from the table. Instead of going back to her room, though, she headed to the field where she had shared her one and only kiss with Miley. She sat in the dirt surrounded by tall grass and gazed at the stars. There didn't seem to be a good answer to any of her problems. She wanted to believe that Miley was happy with Jake, that their kiss had been a mistake because Miley was vulnerable. Lilly knew she couldn't take another heart break from her best friend. She couldn't take too much stock in one lonely kiss.

The breeze wove among the strands of grass and Lilly fiddled with the tips of the blades. Her lips still tingled. As the stars sparkled above, Lilly was reminded of how little she mattered in the grand scheme of things, and of how much her life mattered to her. She might just be one tiny bleep on the radar of the world, but it was the only bleep she got.

She fell asleep amongst the grass and dreamt.

She stood on the edge of a cliff and stared down into a dark abyss beneath her. The ground under foot rumbled, but she couldn't move. Her arms could wheel around yet her legs remained immobile. The earth behind her crumbled away and she floated on a rock high above her death. She could hear the sounds of life, but they were muted. A distant memory that she wanted to forget. As she reached up to scratch an itch on her neck, she closed her eyes. Her fingers latched onto the seam between her head and her shoulders and she lifted her head free. It slipped from her fingers and tumbled down into the darkness.

She woke at her usual time around four thirty. Her body was a mess of aches and pains from sleeping out in the grass. Somehow, despite her disgruntling dreams, she felt a lightness in her spirit. She hurried to shower and clean up.

For the first time that week, she put care into shaving her legs. She soaped her body thoroughly and cleaned her hair twice. Once out of the water, she flossed her teeth and brushed each tooth, followed by washing her mouth out with Listerine. She applied a light layer of make up and went to her room to look through her closet. Although she normally wore either overalls or ripped jeans, she did own a few sets of nice clothing – April's attempt to get her feeling good again. She selected a pair of clean (never been worn before) skinny jeans and pulled her newest set of boots on. For a shirt she pulled a new blue button-up blouse on.

Her next stop was the stable, where she somehow convinced Duster to wear a saddle. He fought her at first, but she apologized quietly for ditching him the night before and fed him a few carrots to get him to sit still. She mounted him and headed out onto the road. Only twice did he frighten her – once as the first car blazed by them and he skittered to the side, and once when he broke into a canter without her command. It was a fight to get him to go in the direction she wanted, but they managed to make it into town with little problem.

Miley's hotel was old-school enough that they had a place to tie up horses out front. Lilly cracked a smile at this – of course Miley would go to the one place that took pride in its roots. The concierge inside pointed her to the elevators. Miley was on the fourth floor, room 413. Taking her time, Lilly reevaluated her thoughts. She wondered if this was a smart decision.

"Room service." Lilly tapped on 413. She listened to the thump of feet on the floor.

"I didn't order any…" Miley pulled the door open. She froze when she saw Lilly.

"I know." Lilly tried to smile. "But you left your contact information with Mark and April, and they passed it on to me."

"Are you going to run again?"

"No."

They stared at each other for what Lilly determined was an eternity.

"You should come in, then." Miley stepped out of the doorway and let Lilly pass.

Miley's bed was still unmade, the sheets messy and the pillows scattered. Lilly sat on the edge of it and Miley took the place beside her. Miley fiddled with her fingers and Lilly crossed and uncrossed her legs.

"Where's Jake?"

"Back in California. Gettin' ready for a movie."

Lilly loved the way Miley's accent intensified when she was home. It was such an endearing lilt.

"That's cool." Lilly gazed at her surroundings. Once again she had to wonder why she was there. "So."

"So." Miley returned. "You ran away."

"I did." Lilly laughed, though without humor. "What was I supposed to do? You're engaged. You can't kiss me and expect me to… I don't know."

"Jake's nice. I love him." Miley admitted. "But I'm not in love with him."

"That's a technicality."

"What if I told you that I'm in love with you?"

"I'd tell you that you're being unreasonable. There's no such thing as love at first sight. You're just reacting to my admission."

Miley's lips creased into a frown. "Don't tell me what I feel, Lil."

"I won't. But you have to admit, too, that you're putting me in a bad position." Lilly pushed her hair out of her face. "I can't do this. I can't be the other woman."

Yet somehow that didn't matter. Miley pushed on her shoulders and Lilly fell back onto the sheets. As Miley unbuttoned and unzipped Lilly's jeans, Lilly stared at the ceiling. Her boots hit the floor and her jeans joined them. Miley worked on the buttons on her shirt, kissing each patch of skin her journey revealed. When Miley pushed the blouse off of Lilly's shoulders, Lilly grabbed the back of Miley's head and dragged Miley up so they were face to face. It took Miley less than five seconds to attack her lips. Miley sucked on her lower lip and massaged Lilly's chest through her bra. Lilly reached to rid Miley of clothing as well, but Miley grabbed her hands.

"Not now."

Miley shook her head at Lilly and slid her hand beneath the fabric of Lilly's underwear. Her fingers found their target and Lilly's body went rigid. In Lilly's opinion, their escapade ended all too quickly. Miley's cell phone rang and they sprang apart with matching blushes.

"Oh, hi…" Miley flashed her a smile and a hand signal – five minutes.

Lilly was impatient, though. She snuck up to Miley and began working on the task of stripping the other girl. Miley had to fight giggles as Lilly tickled her sides as she went. Lilly left Miley so that they matched in just their undergarments. As Miley talked, Lilly examined her body, committing it to memory. Just this once, she promised herself, and she could die happily.

"Love you, too…" Miley whispered and shut the phone.

Time froze for Lilly as the pieces settled into place. She leaned down to collect her clothes. This had been a bad idea. Jake would always come first.

"It was, uh, nice to see you." Lilly frowned. "Let's not do this again, okay? I'm alive and you know it now. So we're good."

Miley's face dropped. "You're running away again."

"No I'm not." Lilly argued.

"You wonder why I'm with Jake. Every time something doesn't go your way, you just run. You can't solve all your problems that way, Lil. It's not healthy."

"You're so fucking selfish." Lilly spat out. "Winding me around your finger while you're still with him. It's not fair."

"I'll leave him. I promise you that."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Yes." Miley reached out to her, but Lilly withdrew.

"So when you're done with me, you'll cheat and then dump me?"

"No."

"How do you know that?" Lilly fought the tears gathering in her eyes.

"Because…" Miley wiped at her own eyes. "Because, Lillian Truscott, you give my life meaning. When you left, I felt like not just my heart was ripped out, but every organ in my body. I was incomplete. I was empty and broken and Jake couldn't understand why. He supported me, but he couldn't understand it. Without you, the sun doesn't shine as brightly, the ocean doesn't look as beautiful. You are my reason."

Lilly was floored. "What are you saying?"

"I love you." This time when Miley reached for her, Lilly fell into her grasp. They cuddled on the ruffled bed.

"Mark and April are probably wondering where I am." Lilly murmured. "I should go home."

She made no effort to move. Miley's eyelashes tickled her cheek.

"You should be with me forever." Miley walked her fingers down Lilly's stomach and they settled on the cloth above Lilly's groin. Lilly felt her heart rate rocket. "You know you want to."

Lilly looked to her boots on the ground. They were made for walking, that much was true. But she didn't think she'd need them anymore.


End file.
